How to Monitor the NetApp Cluster Using eG Enterprise?

eG Enterprise monitors the NetApp Cluster using a single eG agent on any remote host in your environment. In order to monitor a NetApp Cluster, eG uses best-of-both-worlds combination of SNMP and NetApp Manageability SDK. While a few tests directly poll the SNMP MIB of the device to pull out the metrics, most tests run the NetApp Manageability SDK commands for metrics collection.

To know how to configure each of these monitoring mechanisms, refer to the sections below.

Configuring the eG Agent to Poll the SNMP MIB of the NetApp Cluster to Pull Out the Metrics

You can configure tests to periodically poll the SNMP MIB of the NetApp Cluster for collecting metrics of interest. For this, you have to SNMP-enable the NetApp Cluster.

Configuring the eG Agent to Use the NetApp Manageability SDK

The NetApp Manageability SDK (NMSDK) provides resources to develop applications that monitor and manage NetApp storage systems. 

Many tests that execute on the NetApp Cluster run API commands provided by this SDK to extract the performance metrics.

To run these commands, the following pre-requisites need to be fulfilled:

  1. An eG remote agent should be installed on a remote Windows/Unix host in the environment. This remote agent should be assigned to the target storage device when managing that device using the eG administrative interface.
  2. The eG remote agent should be able to access the target storage device.
  3. The NMSDK should be available on the eG remote agent host. To achieve this, follow the steps discussed below:

  4. Download the NMSDK from the following URL to any location on the remote agent host:

    http://support.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/software

    To download the NMSDK, you will have to create a NOW login; to achieve this, go to the following URL:

    http://support.netapp.com

  5. The NMSDK will be downloaded as a zip file named netapp-manageability-sdk-<SDK_version>.zip. Extract the contents of the zip file to any location on the eG remote agent host.
  6. Next, copy the netapp-manageability-sdk-<SDK_version>\netapp-manageability-sdk-<SDK_version>\lib\java\classes\manageontap.jar file from the extracted contents to the <EG_AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\lib directory (on a Windows host; on Unix, this will be the /opt/egurkha/lib directory). Sometimes, the name of the jar file may be suffixed by the NMSDK version number. For instance, instead of manageontap.jar, you might find manageontap-5.2.jar in \java\classes. In such a case, first, rename the jar file to manageontap.jar, and then copy the jar file to the <EG_AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\lib directory.
  7. Then, start the eG agent.
  8. To invoke the API commands, the eG agent has to be configured with the readonly  role of a NetApp Cluster user.

For this purpose, you can either grant the aforesaid role to an existing user, or create a new user. The new user creation process has been detailed in Creating a New User with the Role Required for Monitoring the NetApp Cluster.

Creating a New User with the Role Required for Monitoring the NetApp Cluster

As mentioned earlier, to run the API commands provided by the NMSDK and collect metrics, the eG agent requires the readonly role. To create a new user with the readonly role, do the following:

  1. Login to the system hosting the remote agent.
  2. Connect to the NetApp Cluster’s console via SSH (say, using puTTy.exe ).

  3. To create a new user with readonly role on a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 9.x (and higher), run the following command at the console:

    Security login create –user-or-group-name <user1> –application ontapi -authentication-method password –role readonly

    For instance, to create a new user named eGMonuser for monitoring a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 9.x (or higher), the command will be as follows:

    Security login create –user-or-group-name eGMonuser –application ontapi -authentication-method password –role readonly

  4. To create a new user with readonly role on a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 8.3 (and higher), run the following command at the console:

    Security login create –user-or-group-name <user1> –application ontapi –authmethod password –role readonly

    For instance, to create a new user named eGMonuser for monitoring a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 8.3 (or higher), the command will be as follows:

    Security login create –user-or-group-name eGMonuser -application ontapi –authmethod password –role readonly

  5. To create a new user with readonly role on a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 8.2 (and lower), run the following command at the console:

    Security login create –username <user1> –application ontapi –authmethod password –role readonly

    For instance, to create a new user named eGMonuser for monitoring a NetApp clustered Data ONTAP version 8.2 (or lower), the command will be as follows:

    Security login create –username eGMonuser –application ontapi –authmethod password –role readonly

  6. This command, upon execution, will request for the password of the new user. The password is case-sensitive, and should be at least 8 characters long. It must contain atleast 2 alphabets and 1 digit.

    Please enter a password for user ‘eGMonuser’:
    Please enter it again:

  7. Then, confirm the new user’s password by retyping it.

Once such a user is created, make sure that you configure the eG tests with the credentials of such a user.

  • Manage the storage device as a NetApp Cluster in eG using its Cluster Management IP address. Before that, make sure that the target is indeed a NetApp Cluster device and not a stand-alone NetApp Unified Storage device. For that, check the full version string for the Data ONTAP version in the NetApp device. If the version string contains the word “c-mode” or the word "cDOT", then it means that the target NetApp device is part of a cluster. Details on managing the NetApp Cluster have been discussed in Managing the NetApp Cluster.